I love reading books that you can't put down, and they just take you over for a night or a weekend.

What's the point of having a book club if you don't get to eat brownies and drink wine?

In the wintertime I like macaroni and cheese.

An ellipsis is a giant ocean of possibilities.

I find that short stories are almost like palate cleansers, or brain cleansers.

You can quit smoking, and never have to have a cigarette again to survive. But with food, it is a daily challenge.

I love doing readings. I could really give a crap about reviews. It's kind of about the readers.

I remember being banned from other houses as a younger child during the winter holiday season; I was the only one who didn't believe in Santa Claus, and I was ruining everyone's Christmas.

I just think structure can make a book feel so much bigger. It's the architecture. You could use flimsy materials if you wanted to, even, but it could still feel big.

In 1998, I started a blog, something I could control very easily and update at my own whim.

I'm not that much of a researcher. I'm good at channeling characters, and I'm good at structure.

Everything you can imagine is real.

Houses are built to live in and not to look on.

I am what libraries and librarians have made me with a little assistance from a professor of Greek and a few poets.

Nationalism is like cheap alcohol. First it makes you drunk, then it makes you blind, then it kills you.

Years passed; and he endured the idleness of his intelligence and the inertia of his heart.

I believe in only one thing and that thing is human liberty.

The people in Arab countries are now speaking out and asking many questions about human rights, minorities, religion, democracy, "the other," and so on.

I got born in the wrong family.

In any democracy, there is always a tug-of-war between policies to achieve equality and policies to promote excellence. I am certain that Canada can achieve both equality and excellence.

Integrity is the thing you do when no one seems to be watching.